The Chiefs won easily but the game had a rare occurance, Sergio Santos made the first and second outs of an inning. New Hampshire and Dunedin faced top pitching prospects with mixed results. Brett Cecil made his AA debut and had a poor start with a good finish. Lansing lost to make it a 2-2 day.
This game was effectively over in the third inning when the Chiefs jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Jorge Velandia homered in the second to make it 1-0 but it was the third inning where Syracuse scored seven. Pedro Lopez doubled with one out to get it started. That double was followed by five straight singles, an error, and then another single. Sergio Santos had the dubious distinction, which is pretty rare, of making the first and the second out of the inning. Lopez had another RBI single before the third out was recorded.
Bill Murphy pitched well five innings with the only blemish a two run home run by Andy Tracy. The Chiefs scored their ninth run in the seventh with a Velandia walk and a Chip Cannon double. Jo Matumoto allowed two runs in the eighth.
The Chiefs had thirteen hits, Cannon was 3-5 and is now hitting .242, Lopez, Velandia and Coats had two hits each.
There was good and bad news for Brett Cecil in his first AA start. The bad was the first six hitters of the game, an error, a walk and four hits let all six reach base. Three of the four hits were fly balls or line drives which suggests Cecil was pitching up in the zone which could come from over excitement in a big situation.
The good was was the next nine hitters, two of them walked but Cecil did not allow another hit, recorded two double plays and four strikeouts, all swinging. Jamie Vermilyea relieved Cecil and pitched four perfect innings before allowing a run on a wild pitch in his fifth inning.
New Hampshire were facing the Philly's top pitching prospect, Carlos Carrasco, and they were hitless until the fourth. In that inning Aaron Mathews led off with a walk, Travis Snider singled and Jacob Butler drove in the first run with an RBI single. However Anthony Hatch grounded into a double play before Ryan Patterson singled home Snider to bring the Cats to 4-2. Brian Jeroloman doubled to start the fifth and scored with the help of two groundouts. Reading restored the two run margin off Vermilyea in the eighth and that was it.
The Fisher Cats had six hits, no-one had two. Travis Snider was 1-3 with a walk and a K.
Dunedin faced Detroit phenom Rick Porcello for the second time this year. Chris Emanuele walked to start the game but was picked off. Marcus Cabral, just demoted from AA, singled after that but was stranded. In the fourth Jon Diaz was hit by a pitch and Emanuele singled but this time Cabral hit into a double play. Lakeland took the lead with a solo home run off Julio Pinto in the third and added another single run in the fourth. Dunedin tied the game in the fifth, Sean Shoffit singled with one out and Diaz walked before Cabral doubled with two out to drive in both runs. Lakeland re-took the lead in the sixth with another solo home run. Dunedin got it back off a reliever in the bottom of the inning, JP Arencibia doubled and Brad Emaus singled him home.
In the seventh inning Emanuele and Dopirak doubled to give Dunedin a 5-4 lead. Edward Rodriguez had an unusual eighth, a single and a walk put two runners on. The third hitter singled but two runners ended up on third base and one was called out. JP Arencibia then threw out the runner from first trying to steal and Rodriguez was able to escape. But in the ninth Connor Falkenbach gave up a two out, two run home run to make it a 5-5 tie.
In the bottom of the ninth Dopirak walked with one out and singles by Arencibia and and Emaus loaded the bases. A force out at home left the bases loaded with two out but Dunedin won it on a failed fielders choice.
Pinto gave up eight hits and three runs in his six innings. The Jays had thirteen hits, Arencibia had three, Emanuele, Cabral and Emaus had two each.
Trystan Magnuson started, pitched his three innings, and gave up two hits one of them a solo home run to 2007 draftee Peter Kozma. In the third the Lugnuts had runners on second and third (Sierra and Tolisano singles) with one out but couldn't score. In the fourth Lansing tied the game, Matt Liuzza walked and later scored on a Yohermyn Chavez single. The Lugnuts took the lead in the seventh, Chavez singled and stole second, and moved to third on a Sierra single, his third of the game. Chavez scored on a sac fly from Tolisano. However Luis Perez hit the lead off hitter in the seventh, then allowed a single and a double to make it a 2-2 game before escaping with the tie intact. Perez's luck ran out in the eighth, a triple, sac fly and a solo home run made it 4-2. Lansing made it interesting in the ninth, Wesley Stone singled and scored on a double from Mike McDade but Lansing could not bring the tying run home.
Perez pitched five innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. Lansing had nine hits, Sierra had three and Chavez two.
3 star selection
3rd star - Moises Sierra
2nd star - JP Arencibia
1st star - Pedro Lopez
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